Toyota and Suzuki are teaming up to catch up in the global EV race. Next year, Suzuki will supply Toyota with its first electric SUV, which is set to roll out worldwide. Here’s what to expect from Toyota’s new electric SUV.
Toyota’s electric SUV from Suzuki is coming in 2025
Suzuki will begin producing the new all-electric SUV for Toyota at its Gujarat plant in India starting in the spring of 2025.
The new EV is the first of an expanding partnership as the Japanese automakers look to fend off the wave of new models hitting the market. In a press release on Wednesday, Toyota and Suzuki said the new SUV was designed “exclusively as a BEV,” eliminating gas or hybrid options.
The statement said Toyota’s new EV will be “a nimble SUV with the sharp driving characteristics of a BEV.”
It will be powered by a platform co-developed by Suzuki, Toyota, and Daihatsu Motor, combining each other’s advantages.
Toyota’s president, Koji Sato, said, “By leveraging the BEV unit and platform that we jointly developed, we will take a new step in our collaboration in the field of electrified vehicles.”
The electric SUV will be available in 4WD, “offering exceptional drivability on rough roads and a more powerful driving experience.”
Earlier this year, Maruti Suzuki unveiled the Concept Electric SUV eVX, a mid-size electric SUV with a driving range of up to 342 miles (550 km). This gave us a glimpse of what the new model will likely look like.
At 4,300 mm long, 1,800 mm wide, and 1,600 mm tall, the eVX is slightly slammer than BYD’s popular Atto 3 (4,455 mm long x 1,875 mm wide x 1,615 mm tall) or a Toyota Crolla Cross (4,460 mm long, 1,825 mm wide, 1,620 mm tall).
Toyota said it would launch the new model “worldwide” as one of the ten EVs due out by 2026. According to a Nikkei report earlier this month, Toyota is also deepening its partnership with Subaru with plans to launch another co-developed electric SUV in 2026.
Subaru announced it was teaming up with Toyota to launch three new electric SUVs by 2026. The company’s CEO, Atsushi Osaki, said, “There is a huge risk for us to go it alone in this field.”
Electrek’s Take
Japan’s leading automakers are teaming up to launch new electric models as lower-priced models from China continue to gain market share.
With China’s EV market, the world’s largest, becoming saturated with new models, automakers are taking business overseas to drive growth.
One of the most notable is China’s largest automaker, BYD. BYD just posted record profits as vehicle sales continued surging in the third quarter. BYD’s revenue outpaced Tesla for the first time (including PHEV sales).
Meanwhile, Toyota’s output fell for the first time in four years in the first half of fiscal 2024. Toyota especially felt the heat in China, with volume slipping by 17%.
Toyota sold 108,287 EVs through the first nine months of 2024, including its luxury brand Lexus. That’s only about 1.5% of the over 7.4 million vehicles sold then. BYD sold 164,956 EVs in September alone, with nearly 1.2 million sold through September.
Can Toyota fend off the competition with the help of Suzuki and Subaru? Comment below and let us know your thoughts.